Will ensure fair elections in India: Mark Zuckerberg at senate hearing

Testifying before US senators in the wake of Facebook's data breach scandal and foreign interference in election, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told them that his company will do everything to ensure fair polling takes place in India and other countries.

"2018 is an important year for the whole world. Several countries like India, Pakistan will have elections. We'll do everything possible to ensure these elections are safe," Zuckerberg said in the joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees, at the Capitol Hill here.

Earlier, the CEO and founder of the world's most popular social networking website said he was "sorry" that Facebook did not take a "broad enough view" of the responsibility when their platform was being used for circulating fake news and was becoming a tool for foreign interference in elections.

The 33-year-old billionaire also expressed regret that his company was slow in identifying the Russian operations in 2016, which allegedly benefitted the then presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who is now USA's 45th president.

Muslims offer prayers in Kandy under Sri Lankan Army protection

Sri Lankan troops today guarded mosques and facilitated Friday prayers as authorities stepped up security in the violence-hit Muslim neighbourhoods in Kandy district after four days of riots that have left at least two people dead. Several homes, businesses and mosques in the hilly Kandy district have been damaged in anti-Muslim riots, since Monday. The violence erupted after the death of a Buddhist Sinhalese man last week. To rein in communal violence, a state of emergency has been imposed by President Maithripala Sirisena's government.

A large number of Muslim-owned businesses in the island nation remained shut in protest against attacks by mainly Buddhist Sinhalese, but some shops in the Muslim neighbourhood opened today.
Army personnel and police constables patrolled outside mosques in Kandy where prayers were offered in open grounds in many places because mosques had been burnt or vandalised.
About 3,000 police, 2,500 army personnel and 750 special task forces have been deployed in Kandy to bring the situation under control.

"There were no incidents during the Friday prayers," a police official said, adding that investigators had stepped up the search for those who took part in the violence. 

Two injured in early morning shootout at Southeastern Louisiana University

Two people were injured in a shooting early today at Southeastern Louisiana University, the university said, nine days after a massacre at a Florida high school sparked a national uproar over US gun violence.
"University Police confirmed incident occurred on North Campus involving several individuals.

Gunshots fired, 2 individuals suffered non-life threatening injuries," the university said in a statement on Twitter.
Students were warned by the school's emergency alert system at 4:01 am (local time), it said.
"No present threat to campus community," it said, adding that university police were investigating the incident.
The incident at the university in Hammond, Louisiana, came amid a national debate over gun control sparked by the killing of 17 students and adults at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14.